PIKE RIVER ANGUISH

Families’ suffering revealed in victim impact statements. Quotes from victim impact statements read by lawyers at yesterday’s court hearing.

Samuel Mackie’s mother, Beth Mackie, said about her only child: ‘‘An act of violence has been committed against my son and I am very angry and bitter. I had believed my child being born in New Zealand was very fortunate. That a company in this country could play Russian roulette with his life and the lives of 28 other men is like something from a horror movie.’’

The parents of Malcolm Campbell, 25, of Scotland, said he had only gone to work in New Zealand while he waited for his Australian residency to come through. ‘‘Unfortunately this did come through on the day of the first blast. If only,’’ Malcolm Snr and Jane Campbell’s statement said. ‘‘Not one day goes by without thinking of Malcolm. We wonder what kind of dad he would have been, how many children he would have had. ‘‘Knowing he is on the other side of the world is just hellish.’’

John Hale’s partner, Brenda Rackley, said he told her the mine was disorganised and chaotic. ‘‘When he mentioned the safety issues at Pike, I became concerned for his safety and asked him to leave the mine several times. He always replied ‘I’m not leaving. I’m staying till the end of the contract’.’’

William Joynson’s widow, Kim Joynson, from Queensland, Australia, told the court she and their two sons had been in Christchurch for several major earthquakes while in New Zealand during the blast’s aftermath. Her two sons also did individual victim impact statements, written by her and detailing their health problems suffered as a result of their father’s death. Benjamin, who was 11 years old when the blast occurred, started having intermittent epileptic episodes, which doctors blamed on stress from Pike. Their eldest son, Jonathon, who was then 13 years old and had mild autism, was put on suicide watch after the blast after his school feared he would selfharm. ‘‘There was one occasion he stated that he wished to die and ran into the middle of the road to put himself in the path of a car. Fortunately the road was devoid of traffic at the time.’’

Riki Keene’s mother, Tracey Keane, said the sequence of events that occurred the day of the blast ‘‘will never leave my mind’’ and it was not possible to let her son go. ‘‘We held a memorial for Riki on the 19th of February 2011. This was to be his wedding day. This sad occasion was meant to be a happy one. This we will never see or realise, ever. ‘‘For a family to gain closure, we must be able to bury our loved one in the manner we are accustomed.’’ His two sons, then aged 3 and 5 years, still asked when was their father coming home.